Dessert, Yeast bread Recipes

There's not much better than smelling the house filled with the aroma from cinnamon buns. These buns are nearly identical to the buns purchase from the Cinnabon chain of stores.

This recipe comes from Italy by way of Argentina. Maxwell Mowry of Charleston got this recipe when he lived in Buenos Aires in the early l970s. Since there are more people of Italian ancestry in Argentina than of Spanish ancestry, it is not surprising to find panettone there, where it is called in Spanish pan dulce, meaning 'sweet bread.' At Christmas in Argentina, pan dulce is eaten accompanied by sparkling apple cider. Houseware shops in Argentina sell special tall cylindrical springform pans to bake the pan dulce, but an empty, greased 1-pound coffee can may be used.

Panettone Italian fruitcake with orange zest, dried fruit, and a tender yeast dough. Baked in a coffee can for the classic tall dome shape. Ready in about an hour.

German plum cake (Zwetschgenkuchen) layers fresh plum wedges over a yeast-and-baking-powder dough, finished with cardamom sugar. A late-summer Bavarian classic for coffee hour.

Authentic Danish pastry (Dansk Wienerbrod) dough: laminated yeast pastry rolled and folded multiple times to create flaky, buttery layers. The base recipe for Cocks' Combs, Spandauers, Cremeboller, and every other classic Danish bakery treat.

Copycat Cinnabon cinnamon rolls made with a pudding-enriched dough for an ultra-soft, gooey crumb, rolled with brown sugar and cinnamon and finished three ways: cream cheese frosting, caramel-pecan sticky buns, or classic.

Russian torte: a yeast-leavened pastry layered with cinnamon-walnut filling and apricot preserves, then crowned with meringue and sugared nuts. The Old World dessert that disappears at every gathering.

Yeast based Czechoslovakian pastry filled with a poppy seed or cream cheese filling.

Golden fried Italian dough diamonds studded with raisins and anise seeds, drizzled in hot honey and lemon. A traditional sweet treat for holidays, festivals, and Sunday gatherings.

Buttery laminated dough enriched with cardamom and orange creates flaky Danish pastries through careful rolling and folding for serious bakers seeking a challenge.

Traditionally cantucci combine with vin Santo generally or liqueur wines, although they are very good even with the dry wines such as sparkling wines.

Pull-apart bubble cake (monkey bread) with soft yeast dough balls dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar with pecans. A sticky, irresistible treat baked in a tube pan.

Berlin Doughnuts (Bismarks) are classic German jam-filled yeasted doughnuts with rum extract and orange juice in the dough, deep-fried and sugared. Makes 12 pillowy doughnuts.

7-Up Refrigerator Dough: a soft, enriched make-ahead yeast dough where lemon-lime soda stands in for some of the sugar. Mix today, bake tomorrow for tender rolls or coffee cakes.

Apfelquarkkuchen, the German apple and cream cheese kuchen, layers a tender yeast-dough base with cinnamon-tossed Granny Smith apples and a sweetened cream cheese topping. Traditional bakery-style.

Cinnabon copycat cinnamon rolls with soft pillowy dough, a buttery brown sugar-cinnamon filling, and cream cheese frosting that melts into every spiral. The classic mall bakery flavor at home.